There is no doubt that 5G is the next big game changer for the telecoms industry. Walking around the huge Fira Gran Via, solutions to bring the technology closer to realisation are never far away. But 5G, as a standardized technology capable of delivering on its promise, is, as highlighted by the key note session ‘The Road to 5G’ at this year’s Mobile World Congress. Here, various industry leaders gathered to present their vision for 5G but none were willing to commit to a deployment any earlier than 2018. In fact, most said 2020 was more realistic.
While three to five years might not be considered too long a timeframe, the number of connected devices is growing at a rate which makes it far too short. The question, then, is what can be done in the meantime?
According to Huawei, one of the global leaders in ICT solutions, the answer to this question is 4.5G. This technology claims to evolve LTE to make it capable of supporting new experiences, new services and new devices. As Huawei puts it, 4.5G will open the Giga world and cellular IoT.
The technology does this by providing a smooth evolution to Gigabits per second capability via multiple techniques, including LAA, higher order Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output (MIMO), massive Carrier Aggregation (CA) and 256QAM.
Consequently, 4.5G can provide 10ms E2E latency based on distribute gateway and air interface technology to make control of real-time mobile services possible. This is done in conjunction with the existing network through refarming spectrum, maximising site and network automation. Key features include the ability to have lower latency at 10ms, a peak download rate of around 6Gbps and the support of 100,000 connections within a one kilometre square.
Speaking on the second day of Mobile World Congress, Emmanuel Coelho Alves, Senior Wireless Products Manager, spoke about the technology and its commercialization which is expected in 2016.
“4G enables users to freely connect with each other, enjoy superior mobile broadband experiences and download at high-speeds, anytime, anywhere,” he said. “Over the next couple of years 4.5G technology will be deployed to offer faster speeds, lower latency and better functionality than the best 4G technologies currently available. It will also open up new revenue streams for operators resulting in a healthier and more profitable mobile broadband business.”
If 4.5G is so great, then, why do we still need 5G? The overriding factor is standardisation. While 4.5G will leverage 5G innovations and harness existing 5G research, it is not an industry-agreed approach and there is still much work to be done to reach that stage. As already mentioned, though, with the timeframe this involves, an interim solution is required.
And while 4.5G isn’t expected to be delivered until next year, meaning 5G could be just two years beyond it, the solution has the advantage of having a clear path to being realised. The 4.5G research starts by looking at the ongoing 3G Partnership Project (3GPP) releases for LTE and LTE-Advanced. 4.5G standardization forms a part of this and is expected to be completed in 3GPP releases 13/14.
“4.5G is a very significant step on the r oad to 5G,” concluded Alves. “We believe the 4.5G solution will stimulate demand for 5G and encourage the market to work on its realisation. Until that happens, 4.5G will deliver the qualities operators and end-users are looking for in order to enable higher speeds, more capacity and new services.”
Sponsored content: This article was produced by a Total Telecom journalist on behalf of Huawei Technologies
